


Chasing Dragonflies

by Crack_Pair_King



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, F/F, F/M, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Loss of a pet, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 15:43:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19748797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crack_Pair_King/pseuds/Crack_Pair_King
Summary: Ren's return home is marked by a loss he was not prepared to face.





	Chasing Dragonflies

**Author's Note:**

> This piece was not beta'd, and is unlikely to ever be beta'd. I planned to get other things done today, but mortals plan and reality laughs.
> 
> In Memorium - Hunter. Put to sleep today after suffering 3 seizures in less than 5 hours. He had an eventful 17 years that did not begin easy, but ended in a happier home.
> 
> Go chase those dragonflies, buddy.

"Why Hunter?"

They were the first words Ren heard in fuck knew how long. To hear them hurt, and Ren curled in tighter. He knew his fingers were pulling up grass. He did not care as the sobs tore his throat like glass.

Ren felt a small hand rubbing at his back from a lover and friend who would leave all too soon. A rumbling purr came from the warmth that tucked into Ren's chest. He cried all the harder, remembering another warmth. Slobbery kisses and barks rather than endless cuddles and purrs. Yet the intent was all the same.

Eventually, when his sobs downgraded to feeling like sand, he could find the words.

"He liked to chase dragonflies." Ren sniffled more than spoke. " Whe-when I-I-I first f-f-f-found him, h-h-he was chasing them in a field."

"Did he catch any?" Morgana's tone held real curiosity. Ren smiled, watery and wet.

"Never. I think he just l-l-li-liked chasing a-a-an-and hunting them. That's why I called him Hunter."

Ren brushed his fingers over the small cairn in the backyard. It was all his parents had given Hunter, the dog they'd never truly wanted. The dog who'd been more a friend and family member than those people who claimed Ren as progeny. He could hear the furor inside still.

The Phantom Thieves had brought him home today, only to discover his beloved dog was gone. Put to sleep after multiple seizures two days after Kaneshiro turned himself in. Ren's parents hadn't even had the balls to send him a text message. Or the consideration, Ren wasn't sure which.

Ren hadn't been able to find words.

He'd just bolted into the backyard with all the speed he used to tear the masks from shadows. Or so it had felt. He'd desperately wanted to hear that high pitched bark that didn't match at all with the barrel chested, gentle sneak of a dog.

Instead he'd found a messy and half-collapsed cairn of stones, marking a grave half covered in grass. Morgana had accompanied Ren, curling himself right up against Ren's chest and purring loud enough to even beat out Ren's heartbroken sobs. Futaba had accompanied Ren, and it was her hand he belatedly recognized on his back.

Ren hadn't been able to find words. But he hadn't needed to. Because, by god, had the Phantoms found words in his stead. Furiously blazing curses and icily cutting observations and explosively thunderous outrage. A fallout of nuclear fury and benign questions hiding malice. Ren knew they'd all fall on deaf ears, but it was good. His loves, his friends, had found the words he couldn't to express his outrage at this grevous betrayal of trust.

"Everyone in town turned on me. When Shido set me up. But Hunter. I know its a dog thing, but he just didn't care. I was still just Ren. Still the kid who'd found him chasing dragonflies and convinced my parents to keep him. The boy he'd played with and loved since I was 11. And now he's... he's just gone."

Ren didn't know how long that freshly inspired round of tears continued. How long his body shook and rattled under his sobbing. After a time, he wasn't even sure if he was crying for the dog he'd lost without ever knowing, or for the boy he'd been before his Awakening.

All he knew is that when hands, larger and rougher with callouses (Ryuji, some distant part of his mind realized) tried to turn him even a little. Ren clutched harder, fighting the attempt to take him from his beloved companion. That last link between the boy he'd been, and the man he'd become.

"Oh Ren." He wasn't sure who said it. Suspected Ann, but wasn't sure. What he was sure of was when the warmth of a human body curled up against his back. Then another. A third. And suddenly Ren was at the center of a cuddle puddle the likes of which he'd never experienced. One full of warmth and love and overrun with tearful sobs. As though the group had collectively decided that now was the time to let out griefs and sorrows long held. Cuddled together at the grave side of a lost and loyal companion.

Morgana looked at the cairn of stones, and bowed his head. He said no words. He held onto the hope that dogs had a presence in the Sea of Souls, and sent his thoughts along paths only a Velvet Attendant could possibly manage.

"Got get em, big guy. We've got him now."

**Author's Note:**

> For those who are curious: Yes, I do think quite poorly of Ren's parents.
> 
> In P3, the MC's an orphan who's last surviving parent died a decade ago saving the MC from a "car accident." The circumstances surrounding that accident are vital for Persona 3 to even happen.
> 
> In P4, the MC's living with his mom's younger brother and his first cousin while his parents are out of town for a year. You can feel the presence of his parents every time you hear "Welcome home!"
> 
> In P5, the MC's parents contacted the friend of a friend to get a third friend they don't know to let you use the room above his shop. Then they made one call, to let Boss know their view of the story, and that's the most impact they have.
> 
> So yeah, while I love me some Joker's-got-decent-parents fics, I have a hard time writing them as anything but disinterested at best.


End file.
